Slain engineer’s son declines Mayawati’s compensation

Lucknow, Dec 26 (IANS) The family of an Uttar Pradesh engineer who was allegedly lynched by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and some activists, has turned down the Rs.500,000 compensation offered by Chief Minister Mayawati.”In any case, I will not accept the grant being offered for the life of my father,” Prateek Pranjal, son of the slain Public Works Department (PWD) engineer M.K. Gupta, told IANS Friday by telephone from Lakhimpur, some 100 km from Lucknow.

A software engineer in Banglore, Pranjal has come to his parental home in Lakhimpur in the wake of his father’s killing. Gupta was allegedly lynched for refusing to contribute to a fund raising drive for Mayawati’s birthday bash on Jan 15.

Raising doubts over the probe being carried out into the killing of his father, Pranjal said: “I have no faith in the government and the police as they have not performed any forensic investigations into the murder.”

Demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, Pranjal said, “The case must be handed over to the CBI for a free and fair trial.”

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Shekhar Tiwari was arrested Wednesday evening for lynching the engineer, the police said. The state administration, however, said the incident has no connection with Mayawati.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Engineers’ Association has rejected the police claim that another accused in the murder, named Tyagi, was a junior engineer with the PWD.

“Tyagi along with another person, Bhatia, was often seen hanging around with the BSP legislator. Both Tyagi and Bhatia were not associated with the PWD,” said association president A.Q. Farooqui.

PWD engineers are observing an indefinite strike across the state since Wednesday to protest Gupta’s death. The autopsy report of Gupta said he was brutally tortured and was given electric shocks.